Tuesday, September 11, 2012

9/11 Building Toxins Still Poisoning First Responders

CNN reports today that Federal health
authorities just added 58 cancer types to the insurance coverage for
first responders, nearby residents and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist
attacks in New York City. The World Trade Center Health Program, led by
Dr. John Howard, is responding to recommendations made by its
Science/Technical Advisory Committee to add the cancers.

While health insurance coverage for these victims is certainly
laudable and responsible, we must also consider a larger issue: Our
buildings are being made with toxins that, when they are demolished,
will poison us for many years to come. When it comes to building
demolition, these toxins come in the form of course particulates.

Building Toxins and Course Particulates

When our modern buildings are demolished, they can rain fumes of
various dangerous substances a mile or more from the demolition site.

The most blatant illustration of the demolition effect is the World
Trade Center bombing. The collapse of the towers caused such a toxic
fume that there are still thousands of people suffering from a slow
poisoning of the lungs. Dangerous chemicals including asbestos,
formaldehydes, benzenes and many others were breathed by thousands of
people.

This effect was not limited to rescuers and those who escaped from
the twin towers. Many others who happened to be in the vicinity are now
suffering. One of the more prevalent diseases has been sarcoidosis—a
life-threatening inflammation of the lungs. As toxin deposits build up
and damage the airways, scar tissue forms—making mild asthma seem like a
walk in the park.

This scar tissue affects the elasticity and efficiency of the lungs,
causing life-threatening lung collapse. A study released by nine doctors
(Izbicki et al. 2007) who researched the delayed health effects at
Ground Zero reported that firefighters and rescue workers were diagnosed
with sarcoidosis at a rate of five times the incidence rate prior to
9/11.

An epidemic of emphysema, asthma, allergies, sarcoma and the many
cancers was also an unfortunate result of the Trade Center bombing.
While we know asbestos is toxic to the lungs, it is still a popular
building material. Many structural components of new buildings use
asbestos as an ingredient. Because it is a cheap fire retardant
material, buildings still go up using it. Asbestos has been linked to
thyroid cancer and lung cancer in many studies, which caused a number of
high profile lawsuits and residential building restrictions.

Another pollutant released when buildings collapse or are demolished is benzene. Benzene
has been identified as a carcinogen, and certain types of leukemia are
associated with benzene exposure. Other toxins thought to be released by
building collapse include mercury, lead, cadmium, dioxin, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Many of these components
are still used to build buildings. All of them were used in buildings a
few decades ago, when many of our current skyscrapers were built.

Besides the more publicized cases of cancer and sarcoidosis, ailments
associated with the WTC bombing include reactive-airways syndrome,
asthma, chronic throat irritation, gastroesophageal reflux disease
(GERD—also referred to as heartburn) and persistent sinusitis. Other
cases thought to be associated with the WTC have included miner's lung
and thyroid cancer. While many thought these disorders were temporary,
new diagnoses have continually increased. This is because toxins can
build up and reside in lung tissue cells, affecting future lung capacity
for many years to come. Studies on firefighters involved in the rescue
report an average loss of 300 milliliters of lung capacity (Senior
2003).

It is thus safe to say that exposure to these sorts of particulates
may not be symptomatic for years after the exposure. This was certainly
the case with those exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam. Cases of
prostate cancer, skin cancer, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia did not
appear in some veterans for decades later (Beaulieu and Fessele 2003).

Particulate pollution or soot is the most dangerous form of outdoor pollution. Auto exhaust, aerosols,
and chemicals from power plants and wood burning are the most common
sources. While the particles themselves are too small to be seen by the
naked eye, they can be seen as a whole in the form of a haze in the
sunlight. While the body's cilia hair and mucous membranes in the nose
and throat might filter and catch some of these particles, many will
make it into the lungs where they can trigger lung conditions.

Like any living organism, the earth and its atmosphere have the means
to cleanse particulates out of the system. The atmosphere conducts a
number of self-cleaning currents, which move and break down pollutants.
One such mechanism is the hydroxyl radical (OH) molecule. The immediate
effect of the hydroxyl radical is to form photo-oxidants like nitric
acid, which undergoes a photolysis reaction with nitrous acids. These
can be toxic to the lungs in great volumes, but if the particulates are
chemical toxins, the body suffers from poisoning and a complete
breakdown of the immune system.

Questions Not Being Asked

This forces us to ask questions that are not being asked: Are we
really expecting that all the other buildings in New York and other
cities in the U.S. are going to last forever? Buildings are not
mountains. At some point, every building will be demolished, either to
build one in its place or through disaster. The demolition of a building
built with carcinogenic toxins is a recipe for a national health
crisis, not to mention a ticking time bomb possibly behind sick building
syndrome.

The second question is why, after we now know what these toxins
produce in the form of fatal diseases and cancers, are we still using
them to build our buildings – to poison future generations?

The only reasonable solution is to require builders to utilize
non-toxic elements to build buildings. The gigantic pyramids of Egypt
were built some 3,000 years ago and they are still standing, and yet
they utilized only natural elements as building materials.

REFERENCE

Case Adams is
a California Naturopath and holds a Ph.D. in Natural Health Sciences.
His focus is upon science-based natural health solutions. He is the
author of 20 books on natural health and numerous print and internet
articles. His work can be found at http://www.caseadams.com.

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